Who are we? A Rights-Based Alliance or a Collective of Complainers?

Many distressed cities and towns in the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association are desperately trying to invent a new organization to better promote our region’s economic interests. The municipally biased designers are attempting to patch together a loose fitting body around an ill-connected framework vaguely tied to ‘the Northwest’. Dr. De Matteo, the intellectual guide for the group; a unanimous NOMA resolution, and plain old common sense all insist that First Nations' participation in the design and construction of any new vehicle is ‘crucial’.

The Steering Committee should therefore have been stopped in its tracks last week when the Grand Chiefs summarily rejected the ‘Alliance of the Willing’ approach that would form ‘Common Voice’. (A less generous observer might suggest that an ‘Alliance of the Whining’ might be a more appropriate description.)

What the undeterred promoters of the remaining 'half-assembly' seem to have overlooked is the fact that our region is already organized into large, coherent, legal alliances that are committed to mutual benefit. These existing, powerful partnerships are created by the spirit, intent and the letter of the Treaties that brought this land into the Canadian federation.

We are all, -aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike, beneficiaries of these treaties. Our benefits and our obligations come with being a citizen of this land. As People-Joined-By-Treaty, we share remarkable partnership agreements: -signed, perpetual contracts specifically intended to sustain all our families on this land forever. That’s a pretty powerful shared commitment; and one worth rallying around. As it happens, this existing economic alliance –jointly crafted with the full participation of First Nations, is endorsed by none other than Her Majesty the Queen, confirmed by the Canadian Constitution and it even comes with a built-in guarantee of consultation and accommodation. How’s that for a vehicle capable of promoting our shared interests!?

It seems the wise men and elders who guided us into confederation left us with a careful constitution for living well together on shared land. If we simply allow our treaties to frame our structures and processes, the way quickly becomes clear to create stable, cooperative and made-in-NWO resource planning and sharing mechanisms. Our treaty partnerships also provide us with real power to insist that local benefits be maximized and our economy and our land be sustained. That’s our Treaty promise to each other.

A new collective of complainers called “Common Voice” would be both ineffective and redundant. A formidable legal instrument for generating a harmonious voice for ourselves already exists. Our distinct voice is found in the bonds that draw us together under our treaties. The sound is the deep rich sound of who we truly are as a people: -Treaty People who share a wonderful land. The Grand Council in Treaty #3 and the City of Kenora are rightly insisting that it’s time we started practicing our true voice. It’s the only one that Queen’s Park is forced, by law to hear.

White Noise?

As George Strombolopolous would say: -"Here’s the set-up:"

• A mining corporation with head offices near Toronto wants to remove valuable, non-renewable resources from an economically depressed area in Northwestern Ontario. They do not want to leave any tax dollars behind with the local government.
• The Provincial Government’s and the company’s consultation process with local leaders, ...ostensibly intended to address local concerns, is judicially reviewed and found to be less than what the law requires. Despite the flawed process and the animosity created, the company is determined to proceed with work on the land, and does. They argue that they have permission from the Crown, after all.
• A distant and urban-centric Ontario government takes the position that it is they and their non-resident civil servants who have the right to make the ultimate decisions, (and the big money,) when it comes to the exploitation of northern resources. Their message goes all the way back to 1873 and it's simply that Northern folks and their elected governments don’t get much to say and little sustainable benefit when it comes to the exploitation of northern resources. Both power and profits seem to be the birthright of old Ontario; they belong to Queen's Park and Bay Street.
• The local politicians and their constituents object to this disregard for their interests. They feel that the gifts contained in the earth hold a unique opportunity as well as serious potential risks for both the people and the land on which they depend. They are of the opinion that they must do everything they can to ensure the wise management of such scarce resources for the long-term good of the families that live in this small Northwestern Ontario community.
• It's worth noting that this particular community has been sustainably inhabiting their locale for a millennia or two and they seem intent on being there for at least as long into the future. They have a deep attachment to this place and, for some reason, feel they should have a right to have some say in how it gets used.
• When the impoverished local politicians and their constituents launch a desperate physical protest to register their displeasure at being ignored, the response of the company is to file a multi-million dollar lawsuit. The southern provincial government is largely silent while the local politicians are thrown in jail.
• Did I mention that these local politicians happen to be the Chief and Council of a First Nation?

Now, if a small northern municipality were to be treated with similar disdain by distant corporate lawyers and southern government decision-makers; if it were Mayors and municipal councillors who were thrown in jail for defending the interests of their constituents, you could bet dollars to donuts that there would be a hue and cry of outrage and support from every Municipal politician in Northwestern Ontario.

But here we have thoughtful, responsible, government leaders in Northwestern Ontario going to jail in their struggle to secure some meagre measure of local control over the exploitation of their non-renewable resources. Here are respected men and women prepared to give up their personal freedom in their attempt to gain some equitable voice for the families they represent, -and do the Northern woods ring with outrage? …Well yes, but only from the Aboriginal community. In contrast, complete silence reigns from the ranks of the mainly non-native municipal leaders of the region.

What is most surprising and tragically eloquent about this silence is that it prevails in what is supposed to be a new era of native and non-native economic solidarity in Northwestern Ontario. Less than twelve months ago there was a unanimous and much heralded resolution passed by the Northern Ontario Municipal Association. The resolution was to create a strong regional lobbying organization dubbed “Common Voice”. Here's what the municipal leaders all said then:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT NOMA authorize the Board and Executive to take action to create a partnership with as many groups and organizations as possible in Northwestern Ontario with the goal of creating a common voice to talk with other orders of government on issues dealing with the economy;
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT First Nation Treaty Organizations be considered as full partners in the development of a “Common Voice” and are consulted as to the manner and nature of the partnership to be formed;

Today, if you visit the "Common Voice" website, they boast a supportive vision that should hearten anyone standing up for the interests of northerners. It reads: "The NWO Common Voice Initiative is a movement toward unified action by the citizens of Northwestern Ontario to chart their own course within the Province and the Country by addressing regional challenges with realistic Northern solutions."

But where is the unified action of “Common Voice” in this case? Does NOMA’s all-for-one and one- for-all solidarity suffer laryngitis when First Nation Chiefs and Councillors are the ones crying out for made-in-Northern-Ontario solutions? It seems so, because here are duly elected representatives of a responsible Northern government, fellow northern citizens, friends and neighbours, NOMA’s declared First Nation "partners" stewing in jail for the next six months. Without even considering the added legal argument concerning Aboriginal and Treaty rights, here are men and women who are the latest casualties in the longstanding and shared battle of northerners to protect northern interests and find "Northern solutions". If ever there was a clarion call for the solidarity of Northwestern Ontario to be heard, this is it. ...and what do we hear from all those united municipal allies and advocates of ‘Common Voice”? ...utter silence.

Is this the sound of a strong Common Voice? So far, the hypocrisy is deafening, ...or perhaps this is what is meant by the term "white noise".